This invention relates in general to impact printers, and more particularly, it relates to impact printers wherein an erase ribbon is positioned adjacent a moving print point.
In various printers including typewriters such as those manufactured by IBM and SCM, the platen which supports the print receiving medium in the impact printing position remains stationary and the character printing elements move along the platen on a carriage to various printing locations. In those printers, an erase ribbon supply reel and an erase ribbon take-up reel have been mounted for movement on the carriage with the character elements and the print point. The character elements may be mounted on a ball or on a wheel oftentimes referred to as a daisy. In those type printers in which the character elements are mounted on a ball, the erase ribbon has been typically positioned between the print ribbon and the platen and thus it has been difficult to thread the erase ribbon around the guides and lifters and between the ink ribbon and the platen in the confined space available. Further, in at least one printer in which the character elements have been mounted on a wheel such as that disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 833,272 of Hatsell, filed Sept. 14, 1977, assigned to the assignee of this invention, the erase ribbon is mounted beneath the ink ribbon rather than between it and the print point and accordingly, the threading of the erase ribbon is even more difficult than when the erase ribbon and the print ribbon are side by side.